Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCLXV
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:13-18).
In our last essay we closed out our look at the Old Testament from our perspective that it is of no real use to the Christian seeking the Kingdom as their is no amount of background that we need to rightly discern the Master’s words, the Old IS but a matter of historical interest as Jesus teachings clarify and modify the teachings of the Old. Now our understanding of these changes is that the ideas ARE expanded and rightly interpreted by Jesus as against the common understandings of the Jewish leaders in that day and this expansion and clarification IS a continuation of the works of the prophets who sought to do similar things as we have noted in some of the passages that we have used over the last several days. Our reality is in the fact that the Jews did not, as a nation nor as a religion, embrace the ideas of the prophets in their day and they did not embrace the Master as a Prophet nor as the Messiah in His day. Much of what is done by the Master is recorded by the apostles as a fulfillment of what this or that prophet had said and at least some of these pronouncements were said in their present time and some by the Master Himself; with others we are left to wonder if the writer KNOWS the relationship of a particular act or saying to the words of a prophet in real time or after the fact as the Apostle John tells us in regard to the Master’s final arrival at Jerusalem saying: “These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him” (John 12:16). The importance of these ideas is simply that we see the continuity of the Old to the New and perhaps that we realize that the prophets ARE the disciples of their day and they were privy to the Truths and had come to announce them in their own parabolic way to the people.
In the greatest and strongest recorded condemnation, and we can use this word for its effect and not its intent by the Master, of the Jewish religious leaders and thereby the religion itself, the Master says this about the prophets among the many woes that He pronounces: “Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation” (Luke 11:47-51). Now we should understand that the lawyer is the teacher of the law and in this culture the law IS the religion, these are inseparable, and we should view the Pharisee, whom the Master rails against just before this saying, as the implementer of the law and there is likely little difference here. The reference here to the Prophet Zacharias is from the reign of Joash as the King of Judah and here the story is that Joash, who becomes King at a very young age, is reliant upon Jehoiada the priest, Zacharias father, and during his 40 year reign rebuilt the temple. However, after the death of Jehoiada, Judah reverts and we read this account: “And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear. And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it” (2 Chronicles 24:18-22). And to our point, this historical account, other than giving us some understanding of the Jew in those days, does not help us in doing what we must to be accounted worthy and as much as we need to KNOW is given us in the Master’s words of woe to the lawyers in His day.
So then it should suffice for us to view this ALL through the words of the Master and of His apostles; the historical view of the Old Testament is of no real purpose for us and even the story of our origin in the Creation according to Genesis says little that is of any importance to us today and we say this even though we have devoted many essays to these ideas. We should understand that our use of these words from the Book of Genesis is to break the understanding found in doctrines that misrepresent the Truths as we KNOW them; these writings are so worded that they say little to the man who can not rightly discern them and they are a hindrance to the understanding of the Truth for many who see the doctrinal interpretations as True. By example we point to the ongoing controversy in some parts of the church that teach the doctrinal understanding of Genesis as the literal interpretation to children as fact which at best can only engender confusion as these children grow and interact with others and in this we find the Truth of the Master’s words that tell us clearly, “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14). and this He says of the Pharisees regarding their teachings. And in this we can see as well our point over the last several days regarding the effect on the lives of the masses of people by those who claim authority and it IS because of their impact on society that the Master tells His disciples that they must:
- “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4-5).
- “And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given” (Mark 4:24).
- “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees“. Here the apostle gives us Jesus response and his own understanding of the intent of the Master saying “How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” (Matthew 16;6, 11-12).
These are the same sayings that we posted yesterday and we repeat them as examples of what we are saying above regarding the potential effect of those who claim authority and the nature of most men to not challenge that authority; who will go to the priest or the pastor and tell him that he is wrong? And the caution to us as disciples and aspirants is ever more real than it is generally and this should be noted in the fact these sayings ARE spoken directly to them as a ready caution that they not fall back into the ways of the world. And, much of our purpose in stating these ideas here and in previous posts is to emphasize the timelessness of these things, that the counterparts of the Pharisee and of the Sadducee and of scribes and the lawyers are here with us yet today and are among us in the guise of those who claim authority and who at the same time are teaching those things that are convenient and easy and oriented toward the self and the self in the world. And we repeat here again that this IS NOT necessarily a bad thing overall, that this IS the working out of the illusion and the glamour as expected in the world of men and that these teachings, although not rightly positioned, do bring many to thoughts of God and in this they do serve their purpose. However this being said, we should note again Jesus emphasis and ours which is that for those who would focus upon the things of God and strive to keep His words, should heed and understand the caution that He gives us above and these words that should make us think on the seriousness of His message; the Master tells us “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24). And we should not understand this as it is understood by doctrine only; we should see in the “false Christs” those who claim His anointing and His divinity in any measure and we should see in”false prophets” any who teach errant things; and in “great signs and wonders” we should see more than the physical, we should see the psychic as well and in this the power of a personality to move people in any direction. This IS our caution as aspirants, that we do not fall prey to the extraordinary merely because it is extraordinary but that we measure ALL that we hear and that we see against our KNOWN scales of the Wisdom from above and the fruit of the Spirit and realize that if anything is Truly divine that there will be naught for the benefit of the self or the self in the world.
Our purpose in going into the Old Testament was to show the longevity of the Commandments on Love and how the Master takes these fundamental requirements for Right Living and elevates them to a status that IS above the Ten Commandments and a place in which ALL of the law is obeyed as the Apostle Paul tells us saying: “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). And the reasoning here is simple; if one does as this says then he IS at the same time showing his Love for God and is fulfilling the precepts of the Golden Rule. This Love is a difficult concept for the world to understand as the human psyche is so overwhelmed with the sense of self that he really cannot see others in that emotional roller coaster the love is deemed to be. But we KNOW that this IS NOT the Love that the Master teaches as the reality of His Love is tied to how we interact with our brother, our neighbor and the stranger who qualifies as both and this is, as we have been discussing, the overriding message from the laws of Old Testament as well. When we can look at Love as the sense of GoodWill and as the reality of Right Human Relations we capture the essence of the Golden Rule and thereby the Master’s teachings on the reality of Love. To do this however we must take control of the emotions and the mind and eradicate the hatred and the prejudices that we have ALL learned and we must stand in the Light of our own Souls realizing the Great Truths that are in the Master’s parabolic words that tell us from His perspective and from the perspective of the Christ Within that: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25;40) and as we have been saying in these last few posts this, as ALL ideas on Love, should been taken in the broadest sense and not narrowed to include only those things that are mentioned. It is in the ability to broaden our view of His sayings to be ALL inclusive that we find the True essence of the Golden Rule: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12) and we find this in the reality of His word whatsoever.
Our perspective on looking at these sayings in the broadest possible sense is our vision of the full intent of the Master as when He speaks of these things of Love and GoodWill and Right Human Relations, He gives no limitation and no exclusions and with this being True, why do we as men in he world who claim to KNOW the heart of God offer limits and restrictions to our sense of Love? And considering this, why do we teach these limiting ways to our children thereby prolonging mankind’s entrapment in the illusions and the glamours that have beset the world from the beginning? And, as we have pointed out many times, this IS a part of the Great and Awesome Plan of God and while we may not understand it at ALL it IS the Plan, and this we get from the Apostle Paul who tells us that “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). Again, we DO NOT and CAN NOT understand these things as we look at most of Life from our perspective as men in the world; a microscopic view when we consider the vastness of the Universe, and, as the apostle tells us this also while writing to the disciples at Corinth:
“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew : for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received , not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak , not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:4-14).
Our goal in repeating the apostle’s words here IS centered in the last verse which IS to say that we can only discern these spiritual matters of why and what this existence is about as spiritual beings, that is as Soul infused personalities, as disciples whose focus IS upon these ideas of God and not upon the self in the world. In this we should see that there is much Truth in his saying that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” And this the apostle addresses here in the fullness that it deserves and as the KEY, as the way to KNOW and to understand what he calls “the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory” is that one move beyond being the “natural man” whose focus IS upon the world, and this even if by degree, and move to being one who IS focused upon the things of God, who has as his expression in the world “the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God“. And it is in this expression that the man in the world, the disciple, can be seen as one of those “that love him” and we KNOW from the Master’s words what this Truly means as He tells us: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) and which He makes yet clearer saying: “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (John 14:23).
It is here that we close our essay for today, with the same ideas that we have been conveying over the last several posts which is that if a man IS focused upon the self and the things of the self in the world, that he IS NOT privy to the mysteries of Life nor the Truth of the meaning of His words. It is only when a man is focused, at least in part, upon the Truths as He expresses them that he will be able to discern the reality of His words which come as revelation and a realizations founded in that same Love that He teaches us. There is no hatred, no prejudice and no separatism in the thoughts, attitudes nor actions in the worldly expression of “them that love him” and they will see His words in the broadest possible way. And it IS to them that have made that change in focus away from the self that the beginning of revelation IS possible and it IS in this duality of Life that we exist as aspirants who KNOW the Truth and the KEY to the Truth of salvation. In these words we should try to see the depth of commitment and of doing His words and it IS to this realization that we first come as the sense of duality enters into the Life of the man in the world, the man who is yet conducting himself in consideration of the self and the things of the world but who recognizes that this MUST change. As we have discussed it IS this decision to change that is the True essence of Repentance that the Master teaches. We should remember here the words of the Apostle James who tells us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22) which should say to us that we can think whatsoever we wish about our relationship with God and our degree of spirituality but if we are not “doers of the word” we are but fooling ourselves, we are deluded and we are yet succumbed to the illusion and the glamour, the vanity as we read above. The times in Life that are spent in this duality of which we speak are often difficult as we can see but not so clearly the objective and the goal; but this period IS also that part of ones Life where he answers the Master’s call that we “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” and we should understand that it is here that many fall away from their pursuit because of the rigors of removing oneself from the world or, better, removing the world from one’s True self and the Master tells us this as well as He concludes His saying: “for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in , and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and commentt
Staying on the theme of Love we repeat again the sayings of the Apostle Paul that put this Love into perspective.
But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-13 (New King James Version)Regardless of our daily theme, the underlying theme of our posts and of this entire blog is Love. In these words from Paul we should be able to see the overriding importance of Love in the Life of each of us. This is a common theme throughout the gospels and the other writings of the apostles and a theme that is not nearly understood. In our theme today regarding Paul’s writings to the Romans and in the previous discussions on them we seek to impart the better understanding of the reality of Life, the Life of the True man as the Christ Within, the Soul, as it is from this perspective that we can gain that revelation of Truth and, as Paul says above, be free from the condemnation and the vanity of Life in form, free from the illusion and the glamour. We repeat here what we said about these verses in a prior post:
Today’s Quote of the Day from the Apostle Paul is his testimony to the power of Love. After speaking at length about the gifts of the Spirit that one should desire in order to be of service to the Lord, he says plainly that Love is a more excellent way. Love in the context of these verses is not the sentimental or affectionate kind that we ordinarily think of but rather benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. This defining of Love is covered in some depth in a previous post; In the Words of Jesus part 47.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
